IDGT vs NFRA

IDGTBiShares U.S. Digital Infrastructure and Real Estate ETF

NFRAANorthern Trust STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure ETF

In short

IDGT The internet has a physical body: data centers, cell towers, and the gear that wires them together. IDGT owns that hardware layer in roughly 25 U.S.-listed names, at a lower fee than the typical infrastructure fund.

NFRA Most global infrastructure funds stop at utilities and toll roads. NFRA's index goes wider, adding cell towers, data centers, hospitals, prisons and postal routes to the pipelines and railroads, across developed and emerging markets.

Stated mandate

IDGT The fund seeks exposure to U.S.-listed companies that own, operate, or provide infrastructure supporting the storage, processing, transmission, and access of digital data.

NFRA The fund seeks to match, before fees and expenses, the performance of the STOXX Global Broad Infrastructure Index.

Why people hold it

• IDGT Charges 0.37% a year against a 0.55% median for infrastructure ETFs, so the theme costs less than the category norm.
• Tracks an S&P index built for exactly this job: data centers, tower REITs and communications equipment. No roads, no bridges, no utilities padding the basket.ishares.com
• Blends REIT landlords with the equipment makers that supply them, pairing rent-style income with hardware exposure. Pays shareholders quarterly.
• Sits in the top quartile of the infrastructure funds we grade, helped by a low fee and an established iShares operating record.

• NFRA Five supersectors in one wrapper: communications, energy, utilities, transportation and government outsourcing (hospitals, postal, correctional), across roughly 220 holdings.flexshares.com
• Charges 0.47% net (0.48% gross), net of a waiver through March 1, 2027, below the infrastructure category median.
• The index does real work: half of revenue must come from infrastructure, names must clear a $1 million daily-volume screen, and sector caps limit crowding. Rebalanced quarterly.flexshares.com
• Listed in 2013 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that pays quarterly, it sits among the stronger builds in its peer group.

Worth knowing

• IDGT Around 25 holdings means a handful of tower and data center names drive most of the outcome. Concentration cuts both directions.
• REIT-heavy and rate-sensitive by construction, so it can move very differently from a diversified roads-and-utilities infrastructure fund such as IGF or PAVE.
• U.S.-listed companies only, and trading volume is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads can run wider than the cohort's most active funds.

• NFRA Cheaper options sit on the same shelf: IFRA at 0.30%, IGF at 0.37%, GII at 0.40%. Each tracks a different index with a different definition of infrastructure.
• Broad cuts both ways: telecoms, railroads and postal operators share the portfolio with utilities, so this is not a pure regulated-utility sleeve.flexshares.comflexshares.com 2
• Volume is moderate rather than heavy for the category, which can mean wider spreads on larger orders.

Full IDGT profile⁠

Full NFRA profile⁠